My Experience Of Learning English As A Second Language

My first day of the second grade, I knew no one except the teacher and my younger brother. Kindergarten and first grade had been easy enough, but I was scared of the upcoming year. The only thing I knew about being the new kid was that it hadn’t panned out too great for Addie from the American Girl books. Mrs. Henson’s class was fairly quiet throughout the day, for most kids were nervous or tired. We neared the end of the day and I was ecstatic over the fact that hadn’t made a complete fool of myself. I hadn’t met anyone yet, but I thought that that would be a challenge for another day. Unfortunately, that’s not what Mrs. Henson had in mind. She sent us all out to recess with a grin plastered on her face and with me practically kicking

A lot of incidents happened along the way of learning English as a second language and many of them are rather funny than made me in trouble. What I was doing was foolish and I had to change how I see my new world and Adapt to it. I had to force myself in order to start making new friends and learn more about the American culture. I had a lot of good neighbors who helped me pass that period of my life and made it a little easy a comfortable to speaking in English. They guided me and encouraged me to speak more and never be shy again from my language and accent. Yet, I am still working to enhance and improve my language capabilities to be much better in the future. I view this phase of me learning a new language is a work in progress instead of learning something from the beginning. I am keeping a note next to me all the time, and whenever I hear a word or phrase that I don’t know, I write it down and I keep repeating it again and again until it sticks in my mind I become confident when I use it.

To pursue further the reason above, when I was thirteen my family and I have moved from Vietnam to the United States. At the first day in the America, it was in the airport in San Francisco, California. I was about to go get some food in Burger King for myself but I couldn’t actually speak English. So I mixed in English and hand language to buy the food after a week later I went to school and studied a course named English as A Second language. During the course, I learned how to read and write English and I was struggling with the tasks during the first years but after that, it gets quite

At first, speaking English was a bit difficult because I did not feel confident using it with others. The most advanced students sometimes made fun of my English. The students who spoke my own language made more fun of me than the ones who were fluent in English. The teasing by the students made me feel embarrassed and shy to speak the English language, giving me a fear of being made fun of or looked at differently. Practicing the English language with my own siblings and playing with the neighborhood kids who already managed the language gave me more confidence to speak English. Taking Spanish courses in school was also an advantage, which helped me to get better at my native language and kept me from losing it.

There was a new language and new people. The first school there was to enroll there was no acceptance for a third grades with no knowledge of a six grader. The lower grades were in vacations, there was no way to get in the school as a third grader. The next school that was chosen was a temporary one; the wait for the normal one would affect studies. In the school everyone was kind even though the first day was confusing and getting lost was easy since the language was different. The office ladies knew how to speak Spanish and English. The first day in class everyone was nice, teachers were helpful even thought they didn’t know any other language other than

Ever been in a situation where you were the only person who couldn’t understand a specific language? Ever been in a situation where you felt no one could understand you? Do you remember how it made you feel in that moment? Imagine feeling that way all the time; alone, isolated, and misunderstood. Jimmy Santiago Baca and Maxine Hong Kingston do a great job of conveying these feelings in their articles. In the article “Coming into Language”, Jimmy Santiago tells his story as a troubled young man who never saw the value in reading and writing. And in the article “The Language of Silence”, Maxine Hong Kingston tells her story as a first generation Chinese American who struggles with speaking English. As for me, I’ve always struggled with

It was that time of the year ,which was back to school, it was the day ,I got to meet my 8th grade teacher ,I was sweating and had butterflies in my stomach. It was coincidence to find my friend Sheyla at the parking lot. Sheyla said she has met her teacher ,but needed a few more supplies ,so she was just back from getting her last supplies. Sheyla’s family went with us to met my teacher ,and I was glad to see her because it was quite a while since I last saw her. Later, after we left Berkmar grounds,I went to Sheyla’s house and we hangout the rest of the day. It was the first day of school, usually I would be feeling nervous,but today I wasn't ,which was good because I didn't want have sweating hands and a racing heartbeat. I arrived at Berkamr and went straight to homeroom ,I found my seat and waited. My first day at school wasn't to bad because the only thing

Coming from a foreign country where english is a second language, I didn’t know how to communicate. How was I going understand the information in school? How will I create new friendships without speaking? All these questions plagued me. As I sat quietly everyday trying to avoid making a sound, hoping not to get called on to answer a question or speak out loud in the class, I was trying to make clear of what these people were saying. I realized that just sitting there and listening wouldn't help me better speak English; I had begun trying to speak english with my father so I can become more fluent. After months of dedication, I was understanding and speaking a language completely different to mine. That was by far the most difficult

On the first day, I cannot speak any English at all. I felt very uncomfortable sitting in the class, listening to everybody talking without saying any single word. Later on, I got home, and I was very disappointed in myself. I could have just given up, but I didn’t. I kept on studying very hard, and as the time went by, those hard works paid off. I improved, and I can finally speak with everybody. If I have never face the situation like this, I might have given up on everything that’s hard. Furthermore, I wouldn’t have realized how big this world is and how hard is it to try, and just keep being the same old negative person. When we are facing new vocabulary words from the book we’re reading, if we are not practicing how to use and pronounce it, our English will always be on the same level. Like me, without this situation, I wouldn’t have changed and keep believing in something that was

Each year, schools across the nation are seeing an increase in the amount of English language learners they are receiving. Teachers of all grade levels are finding it harder and harder to teach these ELLs because of lack of or little to no proper training. So the article, Setting the Foundation for Working with English Language Learners in the Secondary Classroom aims to show you the ideas and strategies that current and future teachers can incorporate into their daily class lessons to make them more effective in meeting the academic needs of ELLs and in helping them learn the target language.

Walking into my high school, I already had trouble understanding the language, and top of that, I constantly feared eyes judging me. I felt lonely and lost hope of living a joyful life similar to the one I experienced in India. At times, I grew frustrated with the criticism I received when I could not effectively express my thoughts, but today, I write papers and give presentations fluently. My tenacity disproved my judgment and I started believing anything is achievable with determination. When I acknowledged the criticisms and challenged myself to learn the language and make wonderful friends, a different me

Heads or Tails In the short story “Me Talk Pretty” Sedaris tells its readers about the difficult time he had while in Paris. It’s no secret that everyone at one point has had to experience this difficulty while in a foreign country. You take a language class to have some knowledge before your arrival to the country but even that isn’t enough, it’s never enough. Sedaris “…took a month-long French class before leaving New York…”

My first encounter with English was at my mother’s workplace. I picked up some words when my mother spoke to customers, but had no idea what each word meant. When school started, I didn’t talk to anyone since most of them spoke English so I felt like an outcast. Still, I tried my best to do well in English, however in fourth grade kids found it humorous that I struggle when I spoke English and they would bully me. When they teased me I would get frustrated and would sit there sobbing and feeling morose for hours and hours. Finally elementary school was over and its time to go to middle school

Obviously, it was hard to learn English. I had to put some effort into it. I had myself learn the alphabet. I had myself stayed after for extra help. I had some help from family and friends as well. I'm not going to lie, my classmates made fun of my English many times but I would just ignore it. The more I learned the more accomplish I felt.

For me, learning a language is a complicated process. It is different from learning other subjects. It involves a lot of practices and follow up. When I talk about my personal experience, I would say that I have a rich experience in learning English as a second language. English was taught to me for ten years starting from grade seven till graduation from university. After graduation, I felt that I should improve my language skills. Therefore, I did a lot of efforts personally to increase my fluency. Until now I still learn the language. Indeed, learning a language takes a lifetime.